Author: NY TIMES

Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicVampire Weekend recently released its fifth album, “Only God Was Above Us.” From the band that got started nearly two decades ago at Columbia University but now resides in Los Angeles, it’s an LP that ponders hitting 40, the lessons of history, generational legacies, myths and memories of New York City and Vampire Weekend’s own peculiar status as both an indie-rock success story and an arty pop outlier. It’s also the band’s noisiest album — and perhaps its kindliest.On this week’s Popcast with the guest host Jon Pareles, three critics discuss Vampire…

For days, Israel’s closest Western allies have pleaded with the country’s wartime government not to risk igniting a wider war by responding too strongly to Iran’s barrage of missiles and drones last weekend. And on Wednesday, the top diplomats from Germany and Britain delivered that message in person to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.But Mr. Netanyahu emerged from those talks resolute that his country would not bow to any outside pressure when choosing its response. He declared before a cabinet meeting that Israel would “do everything necessary to defend itself” and warned the allies that “we will make our…

In 1811, a 12-year-old girl named Mary Anning discovered a fossil on the beach near her home in southwestern England — the first scientifically identified specimen of an ichthyosaur, a dolphin-like, ocean-dwelling reptile from the time of the dinosaurs. Two centuries later, less than 50 miles away, an 11-year-old girl named Ruby Reynolds found a fossil from another ichthyosaur. It appears to be the largest marine reptile known to science.Ms. Reynolds, now 15, and her father, Justin Reynolds, have been fossil hunting for 12 years near their home in Braunton, England. On a family outing in May 2020 to the…

As Astros fan Saul Malik reads criminal complaint Marek, who accused translator Ippei Mizuhara of stealing more than $16 million from Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani to pay off gambling debts, was surprised by the severity of Mizuhara’s sports betting habits rather than shocked by the familiarity of his behavior.Malik, 26, is a recovering gambling addict. His first craze for chasing fantasy sports went awry in college when he connected with a bookmaker. Malik placed a $10 bet on the Royals to beat the Blue Jays. The Royals won 15-5. Fast money. Malik won a $20 bet that weekend as the…

Two truths: Fashion has long been enamored by the “ugly shoe.” Balenciaga made chunky dad sneakers; Gucci offered fur-lined loafers; and Schiaparelli introduced anatomical boots that look more like they belong in a surrealism exhibition than on someone’s feet.But fashion is also obsessed with collaborations. In recent years, casual shoe brands like Birkenstock and Converse have teamed with fashion houses like Manolo Blahnik and Rick Owens on ambitious high-low collaborations.So what happens when there is crossover, and both of those boxes are ticked? Just ask the British designer Simone Rocha, who released a bejeweled collaboration with Crocs on April 10…

In another workaround, imported cars originally destined for Baltimore are coming into Newark and being trucked to processors in Baltimore, to provide work there while the port is closed. Richard Scher, a spokesman for the Baltimore port, said 14,000 vehicles had been brought down.But such adjustments are straining the trucking industry.Smaller car transporters, which have struggled in recent years because car sales have been hurt by the pandemic, a chip shortage and strikes, have not been able invest sufficiently in their fleets, said Sarah Riggs Amico, executive chair of Jack Cooper Transport, an auto carrier. “The supply chain right now…

Atlas, the humanoid robot that dazzled followers for more than a decade with its outdoor running, awkward dancing and acrobatic back flips, has powered down. In other words, it is retiring.On Wednesday, Boston Dynamics, the company that created it, announced the arrival of the next generation of humanoid robots — a fully electric robot (also named Atlas) for real-world commercial and industrial applications.For anyone worried about what would happen to the hydraulic bipedal machine (a robot home? the junkyard? a window display?) that was created for research purposes, the company had an answer. A spokesman, Nikolas Noel, said that retirement…

Consumers have grown accustomed to the prospect that their personal data, such as email addresses, social contacts, browsing history and genetic ancestry, are being collected and often resold by the apps and the digital services they use.With the advent of consumer neurotechnologies, the data being collected is becoming ever more intimate. One headband serves as a personal meditation coach by monitoring the user’s brain activity. Another purports to help treat anxiety and symptoms of depression. Another reads and interprets brain signals while the user scrolls through dating apps, presumably to provide better matches. (“‘Listen to your heart’ is not enough,”…

This week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:The tensions brewing among hip-hop’s biggest stars, beginning with Kendrick Lamar’s sideways lyrics about Drake, which have led to a full-scale recalibration of genre alliancesDrake’s leaked response to LamarHow other artists like Future, the Weeknd and Rick Ross have jumped in the fray, all lining up against DrakeHow hip-hop’s recent squabbles are a life raft for late-career artistsWhether the “Big 3” — how people once referred to the grouping of top hip-hop stars Drake, Lamar and J. Cole…

Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesman, said at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday that the United States was pushing for a “unified diplomatic response” to the Iranian attack and was urging Israel to avoid “further escalation.” But he added, “These decisions are for Israel to make as a sovereign, democratic country.”Israel’s war cabinet has met several times since the weekend to discuss when and how to respond to Iran’s barrage of ballistic missiles and exploding drones, almost all of which were intercepted by Israel’s air defenses, supported by the United States, Britain, France and Jordan.Israeli officials are said…